Tabletop:I DNRTFA, but the cicada expert on NPR said there was some evidence that cicadas are mercury accumulators, like tuna. A little googling turned up http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040531214618.htm, I don't know how reliable a source science daily is, and I DNRTFA either.

Yeah. Even when I was a little kid, I realized that the "I-can-eat-way-grosser-stuff-than-you-and-not-cry-or-nothin'!" game was sort of farking retarded. Just don't feel compelled to play the adult version.

My trainer at the gym went to culinary school in Switzerland, and had been in the Peace Corps so he's been many unusual places and eaten many odd things. I asked him once if there's anything he doesn't like. I was thinking more like "cauliflower" or "green peppers". Like me. He said, "well... there are some insects I don't like." .... DUDE!!! He told me he once ate some sort of red ants out of a tree in Cambodia, among other stories. He's cooked dinner for me, and thankfully it's been insect-free. Also, cauliflower-free.

Sorta OT but did anybody see Jack Hannah on Letterman the other night? He had a scorpion on and Dave asked him what they were related to and Jack called them "tripods". How can a supposed animal expert be so dumb?

While in New Zealand I was told I should try Huhu grubs. Kiwis said they taste like peanut butter. That was all I need to know, I can buy a bottle of Jiffy and skip eating the beetle larva. I feel the same way about cicadas. There is a tremendous number of things out there I like eating and am comfortable doing so, I pass.

fusillade762:Sorta OT but did anybody see Jack Hannah on Letterman the other night? He had a scorpion on and Dave asked him what they were related to and Jack called them "tripods". How can a supposed animal expert be so dumb?

Now you have got me thinking about that old BBC show The Tripods, went and checked they didn't look like arachnids out of their giant walker machines... And now back to the thread, apparently the texture of fried crickets is mushy not crisp like I'd assumed... I'd guess cicadas would be similar so not too enamoured by the idea. If I had to eat a insect I'd really like to try a roasted witchetty grub.

Yeah maybe they taste kinda bay shrimp with their shells on. Which taste kinda shiatty with their shells off. Nonetheless after case of beer spend trying to get enough for a gumbo or etouffee, they might be ok with plenty of hot sauce . Doesn't quite seem worth the effort, except as a sort of sport. Or you could go shoot a deer, reduce a road hazard/ agricultural pest and fill up your freezer with meat.

Bender The Offender:Lsherm: Back in the 80's we ate them deep fried when they came out. They weren't unpleasant tasting - sort of sweet with a nice crunch. Definitely worth trying at least once.

1979, 1996, 2013. Math is fundamental. I'm not going to let you trick me into eating bugs with your lies.

There are different cicadas with different cycles. I remember a huge, huge spawn of them in Virginia sometime in the early 1980s. I only wish I knew they were edible, then. I could've stored away hundreds of pounds of the dizzy little buggers... cute bugs, really, they're so completely incompetent at flying, too. But, they taste like shrimp? Come to papa.